The ISU men’s basketball team added to its incoming class of players on Thursday, but not in the traditional way.

The Cyclones received the transfer of Alex Thompson from the University of Iowa, which will reunite Ames High School alumni Thompson and ISU center Ross Marsden starting next season.

Thompson has to sit out a year with the Cyclones because of NCAA transfer rules and will be eligible to play starting with the 2007-08 season. He will be eligible to play two seasons with Iowa State.

“I’m definitely excited about playing for Greg McDermott and working for what he’s trying to do at Iowa State,” Thompson said in a conference call Thursday. “When I met with him I was really impressed with his staff and what he had to say.”

Thompson was granted a release from his scholarship from the Hawkeyes and sent transfer papers only to Iowa State. Thompson said he wanted to talk to Iowa State before anybody other team.

“I just wanted to talk to coach McDermott and see what he had to say before I listened to everyone else,” Thompson said. “Everything he had to say just sounded really good to me.”

Thompson said he was recruited lightly in high school by McDermott while the coach was at Northern Iowa, but since he committed to Iowa during his junior year of high school, most teams didn’t get a chance to talk to him.

He said Iowa State’s coaching uncertainty at the time of his commitment to Iowa factored into his decision to start his career in Iowa City.

“At the time I think the biggest issue for me was the coaching situation,” Thompson said. “When I committed they were kind of between [Larry Eustachy] and Wayne Morgan, so I wasn’t sure I wanted to go there.”

Marsden said he is excited to have Thompson and his potential coming to Iowa State.

“This will be pretty good for Iowa State,” Marsden said. “[Thompson] is a good teammate, he’s fun to be around and he’s unselfish.

“I haven’t talked to him recently, but we were pretty good friends in high school and I’m looking forward to continuing that relationship with him when he’s here.”

Marsden said Iowa State will have two Ames High School players contributing to the ISU basketball program, which could be beneficial for the Iowa high school basketball.

“It just shows that there’s talent in the state,” Marsden said. “It shows Iowa kids can come to Iowa State and be able to play basketball.”

Thompson averaged 2 points per game last season as a sophomore with the Hawkeyes and made a 3-pointer in the closing minutes that secured an Iowa victory over Ohio State in the Big Ten Tournament championship game.

Even with that success and a 25-9 record last season with the Hawkeyes, Thompson said he just wasn’t happy, which prompted him to make the decision to transfer out of the program at the conclusion of the season.

“I didn’t feel like it was the best fit for me,” Thompson said.

“I’d been there for two years and it just didn’t seem like a good fit to me.”